In His infinite
wisdom, God saw fit to provide us with another testament to this fact. Through His divine power, He prepared The
Book of Mormon: Another Testament of
Jesus Christ, sending it forth in our day to support the Holy Bible in teaching
us faith in the Messiah. Some of my
favorite stories and lessons on faith are found within the pages of The Book of
Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus
Christ.
Since I was a
young child, I have always held a special place in my heart for one particular
prophet found in The Book of Mormon.
That prophet is Alma the Younger, whose story spreads across the books
of Mosiah and Alma. I have found his
story alone teaches us many lessons on faith.
For example Alma
was elected by the people of Nephi to serve as the chief judge of the land,
which is the public office among the people of Nephi. (Alma 2) At the time several people rejected the law of
the land and civil war broke out. Alma,
as chief judge and upholder of the law, fought with the leader of the
dissenters. During the fight Alma called
on God in the name of Christ for strength.
He received that strength and his people won the battle. He teaches us that faith in Christ delivers
us from those that seek to harm us.
At another time
Alma, who was also high priest over the church of God, knew the people needed
to hear the word of God to call them back to Him. (Alma 4) So Alma forsook his title of Chief Judge,
passing it to another, so he could serve God as a missionary among the people. He teaches us that faith in Christ requires
us to seek after the needs of the kingdom of God rather than the wealth and
riches of the world.
While he was
teaching, Alma was rejected by the people in the city of Ammonihah. (Alma 8)
While he was leaving the city, an angel of God appeared and commanded
Alma to return to the city of Ammonihah.
He promptly did so even though he had reason to believe it would be a
waste of time. He teaches us to follow
the commandments of God in faith regardless of what we believe will be the
results.
But the lesson of
faith that stands out to me from the life and teachings of Alma would be the
lesson of faith unto repentance. This
lesson was the subject of his preaching in the cities of Zarahemla and Gideon. (Alma 5-8)
It was also the lesson he and Amulek taught among the Zoramites and the
people of Ammonihah. (Alma 11, 34) And
it was the lesson Alma taught to his son Corianton. (Alma 39-42)
This lesson was
also the lesson that brought Alma to the church of Christ. He tells his son Helaman about this lesson in
Alma 36. When Alma was in his youth, he
and many of his friends went around seeking to destroy the church of God. While he and his friends were traveling with
this intent, an angel of God appeared unto them. He said to Alma, “If thou wilt of thyself be
destroyed, seek no more to destroy the church of God.”
For the next
three days, Alma was paralyzed with fear.
He found himself racked with eternal torment as he considered the sins
he had committed in trying to destroy the church of God. He knew he had rebelled against God,
rejecting His commandments, and leading many people away from Him. Alma states he was tormented with the pains of
hell for it. So great was his pain and
anguish that he wished he could cease to exist so he wouldn’t have to face God
for judgment for his sins.
In the depths of
his anguish, his darkest hour, Alma remembered his father teaching of Jesus
Christ. When Alma remembered the
teachings of Christ, he cried out in hope and faith, “O Jesus, thou Son of God,
have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by
the everlasting chains of death.”
Here was a man
who had gone about fighting Christ and seeking to destroy His church. He had been the instrument of the devil in
deceiving so many people. Here he was,
recognizing his great sins, truly tormented by them and wishing he had not done
what he had done, and calling upon the very Being he had fought against hoping
for mercy.
Because of his
sins he probably felt little hope that Jesus would have mercy on him. But he did have some hope. He put his faith in that hope. And he cried out to Jesus with that
faith. And the great miracle that
happened because of his faith is that Jesus answered him. His great anguish for his sins was removed,
replaced by great joy in the salvation of Jesus Christ. And he was forgiven because he was truly
repentant of his sins.
That’s the great
miracle of having faith unto repentance.
Imagine how great, how forgiving, how loving Jesus Christ must be to
forgive, instantly, this person who had fought against His church and tried to
destroy it. Alma had done such great
harm to so many. But when he truly
turned to Christ in humility and repentance, the Forgiver forgave him
immediately.
Alma spent the
rest of his life working hard to correct his wrongs, it is true. And we likewise will need to work to correct
our mistakes. We will most likely also
need to endure some consequences of our choices as a part of correcting our
wrongs, and it may take years to do so just as it did in Alma’s case.
But in the
moment, the very instant, Alma repented and called on Jesus he was
forgiven. It wasn’t ten years
later. It wasn’t a year later. It wasn’t even an hour later. It was immediate. And we will be forgiven immediately when we
repent of our sins and cry out with all our faith, “O Jesus, thou Son of God,
have mercy on me…”
I have a
testimony of this forgiving nature of Jesus Christ. I know He is waiting, intently, for us to ask
Him for forgiveness in faith. I know
that when we place our hope in Him, and ask in faith, He will forgive us. He wants to forgive us because He loves us. I have had plenty of opportunities, because
of my foolishness, to seek for this forgiveness. And He has always given it to me when I truly
repent in faith and hope. I testify of
this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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